diff --git a/INSTALL.rst b/INSTALL.rst
index 474de6511585..0226a86d6f99 100644
--- a/INSTALL.rst
+++ b/INSTALL.rst
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ Dependencies
 Matplotlib requires the following dependencies:
 
 * `Python <https://www.python.org/downloads/>`_ (>= 3.6)
-* `NumPy <http://www.numpy.org>`_ (>= 1.11)
+* `NumPy <http://www.numpy.org>`_ (>= 1.12)
 * `setuptools <https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_
 * `cycler <http://matplotlib.org/cycler/>`_ (>= 0.10.0)
 * `dateutil <https://pypi.org/project/python-dateutil>`_ (>= 2.1)
diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/development.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/development.rst
index 389cff4f1067..25b063d98965 100644
--- a/doc/api/next_api_changes/development.rst
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/development.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 Development changes
 -------------------
 
+Matplotlib now requires numpy>=1.12
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
 Matplotlib now uses Pillow to save and read pngs
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/doc/devel/min_dep_policy.rst b/doc/devel/min_dep_policy.rst
index 3e02d95eaf1e..d9233d5c527e 100644
--- a/doc/devel/min_dep_policy.rst
+++ b/doc/devel/min_dep_policy.rst
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ specification of the dependencies.
 ==========  ========  ======
 Matplotlib  Python    NumPy
 ==========  ========  ======
-3.3         3.6       1.11.0
+3.3         3.6       1.12.0
 3.2         3.6       1.11.0
 `3.1`_      3.6       1.11.0
 `3.0`_      3.5       1.10.0
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index f70929e47990..f3a9bc6d8c6e 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ def _check_versions():
             ("cycler", "0.10"),
             ("dateutil", "2.1"),
             ("kiwisolver", "1.0.1"),
-            ("numpy", "1.11"),
+            ("numpy", "1.12"),
             ("pyparsing", "2.0.1"),
     ]:
         module = importlib.import_module(modname)
diff --git a/requirements/testing/travis36minver.txt b/requirements/testing/travis36minver.txt
index 7e2f6208e9d3..7d35b618b784 100644
--- a/requirements/testing/travis36minver.txt
+++ b/requirements/testing/travis36minver.txt
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 
 cycler==0.10
 python-dateutil==2.1
-numpy==1.11.0
+numpy==1.12.0
 pyparsing==2.0.1
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 06cc5fc22fad..86795370dddd 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -255,12 +255,12 @@ def run(self):
 
         python_requires='>={}'.format('.'.join(str(n) for n in min_version)),
         setup_requires=[
-            "numpy>=1.11",
+            "numpy>=1.12",
         ],
         install_requires=[
             "cycler>=0.10",
             "kiwisolver>=1.0.1",
-            "numpy>=1.11",
+            "numpy>=1.12",
             "pillow>=6.2.0",
             "pyparsing>=2.0.1,!=2.0.4,!=2.1.2,!=2.1.6",
             "python-dateutil>=2.1",